Space Marines, The Flaming Tigers
by Ubernuck
Summary: Following the story of a lone novamarine and the squad he is following. First few chapters were made quickly, so bear with me.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1…...The Search Begins

Xian looked around, at the small forest oasis surrounding him at the city, this was probably the only city with a population of over 1000. It was a nice planet, besides the roaming Eldar. There was only 4 or 5 square km of forest, something to do with major hot spots, creating huge spaces of desert. He had come only because he had heard rumors of other Novamarines; a chapter divided a few hundred years ago. Small groups remained, usually no more than a tactical squad or two. Xian had been newly inducted into one such group, but a strike force of Tau decimated it soon after. Xian wasn't sure if others had survived, for he hadn't returned to the site. Xian shook his head and brought himself back to the present, in his experience, the best place to look for information was the local bar, although he usually intimidated people anywhere into talking with his bulky armor and hell-fire round loaded bolter. Right now, he was walking through the town. Stopping a child whom was running between the buildings, he asked, "Where is the bar?" Looking close to fainting, the child simply pointed down the main road, and then ran away.

Xian was only able to fit through the doorway by turning sideways and sucking in what little gut he had. The tavern was a shifty looking place, and as Xian sat down, several men got up and, with backward glances, walked away. Otherwise, it was a nice place, with all manner of humans sharing drinks. The problem with bars anywhere in the empire of man, is that even though humans are basically the same, their immune systems and digestive systems, can be extremely different, so what might be delicious to one man could be poison to the next, so it was mostly watered down gunk. Stepping up to the bar Xian ordered a "drink", not bothering to pay.

"Have you seen others of my kind?" asked Xian charmingly. The barkeep looked at him blankly.

"Have you seen any Space Marines!"

Nothing. Xian resisted the urge to pull his boltgun, and instead decided to attempt a more subtle approach

"Have you seen any space marines?" he repeated as grabbed the barkeeps collar. That got him going.

"Yesyesyes, there were several of… your kind heading out for some artifact or something. They looked like you, but were even more… um... aggressive. They headed directly north out of the city."

Xian released him_ that's strange,_ he thought,_ Novamarines aren't usually prone to violence. No matter _Xian brushed off his shoulders, gangster style "Any Novamarine is a friend of mine" He slid out the door. Walking away, he hopped on his bike and sped away towards the open desert.


	2. Chapter 2

Battle brother Grentus looked down, scanning the screen of his auspex for any sign of movement. With no activity, the free half of his mind wandered in is past. Grentus smiled, remembering the early days of his service in the Novamarines nearing the end of his first century, he fondly recalled the wonderful week before the 'Nids attacked. Realizing he was starting to wander into memories that he didn't want to recall, he focused more intently on his "Grentus! Over here!" Sgt. Thyte called to him

"Acknowledged" replied Grentus

Walking over the dune to his left, he approached the sergeant and the other two members of his squad. Thyte was standing over a dig site where Figaro and Wofer had been shoveling… with dynamite.

"What is it Sarge" inquired Grentus

"We found it" Thyte replied, "We finally found it!"

Thyte called the other two marines over, and soon they were all standing over the top of the dig site, looking down into what appeared to be the top of a stone temple.

"Crikey" said Poop "what is it?"

" A temple" replied Thyte absently " the last of the Novamarines"

Poop and Grentus exchanged a glance

"This" continued Thyte " should house the last of the Novamarines gene seed" He stroked the top of the temple and then suddenly returned to reality.

"Poop! Figaro! Help me pry this open!

With three marines it didn't take long to pry open the stone hatch and soon the six of them were down in the dry, cool darkness of the temple. Even though Space marines have special Implants to increase their sight, they still required flashlights to cut through the darkness.

"I don't like this." Whispered Grentus, the vox transmission sounding unnaturally loud within the calm temple.

Thyte replied, "Too bad marine, we didn't come this far just to turn back because of some dark and some silence." Grentus inclined his head slightly to show his agreement. Lining up single-file they walked along with their left hand on the wall so they could map the entire temple.


	3. Encounter

Xian sped through the desert, looking for any sign of the space marines he heard about. Driving along the tops of sand dunes, he saw nothing but sand, and the occasional sand storm in the distance. Up ahead, he saw a minor disturbance, and over the next ten minutes he saw the whipping sand draw closer and closer. Xian was confident he could easily barrel through the storm and emerge on the other side, but as he got closer, he began to recognize a deep thrum. It was like a bass, drumming through his bones. The deep-throated thrum of anti-grav technology, of Eldar technology. Just as Xian realized his mistake, he also realized he couldn't possible, slow down, turn around, and escape, so he did the next best thing.

Gunning the engine, Xian hit the boosters, and sped into the oncoming Eldar force. Just before contact, Xian slammed the e-brake, turned the bike 90 degrees, and jumped off, letting the bike slam lengthwise into the Eldar squad. As Xian hit the ground, he dropped to one knee and shouldered his bolter, finger lightly on the trigger. Just as he was about to end an Eldar, the dust kicked up by both parties swept into their line of sight, ending any possibility of ranged conflict. Xian stood up, confident no one could see him, and swept his gaze around. _Only being able to see a foot in front of sure doesn't help, _thought Xian, _but how can I use this to my advantage?_

Xian slung the bolter by his side, and drew out his wickedly sharp combat blade. Crouching and slowly moving forward, he searched the blinding sands for a shadow, a hint of enemy activity. Up ahead, Xian saw a part of the storm that was slightly darker than the rest. Going prone, he slowly crawled up to the patch of darkness. As he suspected, there were the Eldar. Five of them in total, all with grav-bikes powered down and formed into a crude circle, like some sort of defensive position. Upon closer inspection, Xian found that one of them was wounded with broken legs, and his bike had merged with Xian's. _I sure hope my bike is okay._ Two of the Eldar moved to drag the wounded one into the circle, and the other two stood guard. As they were moving into position, Xian moved swiftly to the ones standing guard. As Xian leaped over the bike, he smashed one in the face with his foot, and stabbed the other one in side of the neck, the pointed blade easily penetrating the strange alien mesh. Leaving his knife in the Eldar's neck, he shouldered his boltgun and aimed down the sights. Slowly, he advanced back towards the wounded Eldar. The Eldar were supporting their comrade, with one Eldar on either side supporting the wounded one in the middle.

Siratsor cursed as his comrades attempted to drag him out. That stupid marine! What was that demon thinking? Sacrificing one bike for another? No matter, now he was immobile, both legs smashed, and he doubted they would ever heal. Over the comm. he heard a sound resembling a gorilla jumping over a bike, and a knife sliding out of its sheath. The two others digging Siratsor out exchanged a glance, but continued digging him out. Soon Siratsor was free, but he couldn't walk. Supporting Siratsor in the middle, they made their way back to the bikes. Up ahead, he spotted something, a dark shadow. As he was about to warn his teammates, they exploded as bolter fire tore their bodies apart.

"!#$" Yelled Siratsor, as he fell to the ground. He felt the ground shake as a heavily armored figure walked towards him. Scrambling for his pistol he spun around and shot the behemoth, three times before the figure walked close enough, and the last thing Siratsor saw, was the bottom of a Ceramite boot.


End file.
